A Sweet Dream
by Abramus5250
Summary: An artifact mistakenly used by Luna backfires and brings to life the alter ego of Nightmare Moon once more, only this time, things will proceed very differently.


A cool summer's night was always good night for those who spent most of their time under the stars, be it in a state of consciousness or sleep. It was a calm, peaceful setting, with nary a care in the world to be found by those who were awake at the time. However, even on so wonderful a night, not all were asleep. The bottom-most section of the Canterlot Library contained many an ancient relic, many of them mere insights into the deep past, and yet others containing powers that are best left forgotten by the world. Being a princess, and an alicorn, Princess Luna was one of the few who not only had access to such a depository, but contained the magic to handle such objects without being affected by their innate abilities.

However, one thing about this evening that was different than most, was that when she visited the library, to check up on the condition of some of the older relics, she was not feeling particularly up to par. She'd recently found herself afflicted with a head cold, and while she was still able to do her duties as well as before, her occasional sneezing was proving to be the biggest obstacle of all.

"We must remember to wash our hooves doubly after any other pony in the castle comes down with the sickness," the princess muttered as she strolled through the long aisles of ancient artifacts. "Or perhaps insist all ponies carry with them hoof sanitizing lotion. I—achoo!—most detest being sick."

Slowly passing by several large objects covered with relatively ancient sheets of linen and cotton, Luna finally uncovered what she's been looking for.

"Ah, the constellation of Emnight before the central star imploded and scattered the other stars to parts unknown," she muttered, gently flapping her wings to remove some of the dust from the star chart. "To think, it has been—achoo!—centuries since any pony has seen this through a telescope, and yet, we remember—achoo!—as clearly as we did over a thousand years ago."

Gently sitting down as the let her magic light up her horn, she began to slowly levitate the chart, and slowly, it began to change. The notes, the pictures, the little scribbles here and there seemed to lift off of the ancient page and float in mid-air, hovering in place as if suspended by tiny strings. Then, slowly, the constellation began to glow softly, and rotate, causing a slight breeze as it did. The princess held back a slight sneeze as the dust swirled everywhere, one of the few she had managed to successfully hold in for the entire day.

Behind the princess, another sheet covering a much taller artifact slipped loose from the sudden breeze, falling to the ground to reveal a large, curiously-curved mirror. Cast in gold and trimmed with silver, it was encrusted with several large diamonds of an unusual color, and old script that only the most knowledgeable of scholars knew how to read. If any had bothered to leave a translation behind, it would have likely said "do not touch" or something equally forboding.

Turning to find the source of the noise behind her, Luna stared deep into the mirror and blinked at her reflection. "Oh, it was merely this thing," she said, letting the constellation fall back onto the canvas, once more as plain as before. "To think, sister warned us of mirrors so many years ago, of us sometimes seeing things we did not wish to see, and now, here we are, in front of a mirror, and... talking to ourselves." She shook her head, cracking a small smile. She must have seemed silly right then. "Yet what do we have to fear of ridicule of talking with ourselves? We are alone in here."

Cold, alone, without any acknowledgement of her existence. Nightmare Moon had long been filled with these such emotions, but her heart had only darkened with her second banishment. Now, instead of at least being with Luna as one whole being, she had been cast aside, stripped of a physical form for who knew how long. The dark corner of Luna's mind was never accessed by her, and as such the dark alicorn knew nothing of the outside world. Had it been days, or weeks, or months since she was defeated? She could not tell, and alone in her mental imprisonment, she could only wait for something to happen.

That was when she felt something tug at her, not just at her thoughts, but at her whole being. A small ray of light, softer than silk, pierced the darkness of her imprisonment, showing her a small window of something strange. It was Luna, staring at her, though from her expression, she didn't see her former self. This angered the tall alicorn, her nostrils flaring as she stepped towards the mirror. Somehow, in some way, she knew what she had to do, and for the first time in what felt like forever, she spoke.

"Not quite, my dear." With that, she pressed herself against the mirror's image, and soon, she fell through and out of her world, and into an entirely different one.

Luna gasped as her reflection began to stretch, darkening in the dim light of her glowing horn, and swirl around behind the glass. The whole room seemed to grow darker, and in a suddenly bright flash of light, a small shockwave swept through the room, sending the princess tumbling backwards as several artifacts fell off their shelves. Suddenly half-buried by this pile of ancient rubble, the princess watched in horror as a hoof pressed against the glowing glass, and with nary an effort, passed through the material and solidified in the stale air. Soon, the hoof was followed by a leg, and then another hoof, and a long, glowing horn...

"Hello, Luna," the tall figure said, her wings unfurling from her sides as a soft light emanated from her long horn. "It has been quite some time, has it not?"

"No... it cannot be!" The princess gasped, her magic trying to fire off a quick spell, only for said spell to be absorbed by the magic of the mirror's radiant light. "You have been gone for two decades now, never to return! The Elements of Harmony made sure that your return would be impossible!"

"No, Luna, nothing is impossible, especially where magic is concerned," the taller mare said, her mouth curving into a wicked smile, fangs bared slightly as she did so. She knew not of how this ancient mirror had reached out to her and pulled her from within Luna's mind, giving her a body of her own, but she would be eternally thankful for its assistance. "Nightmare Moon has indeed returned. Returned, from the exile your friends confined me to, from a darkness so deep and true that inside your mind we could not even tell the passage of time. Yet, before you try anything, we am not here to destroy you, my former self; we are free from who you are and once were, and now shall set upon our own destiny. We shall seek a far more meaningful target of our rage; the citizens of Ponyville!" Yes, the site of her arrival, and yet within it the very keys to her defeat. If only she had done something earlier, before the Elements of Harmony were used against her, then things would have been very, very different that day, all those years ago.

"What?! You will not lay a hoof on Ponyville or its citizens!" The princess struggled from beneath the pile of artifacts, but many of them were heavy, far too heavy for her to lift, and try as she might, her magic would simply fling off into the glowing mirror.

"Ah, but we will, and when we are finished, Ponyville will have been wiped from the map... forever. Its inhabitants scattered to the four winds, never to return, and in time, the town itself will be nothing more than a mere memory, as was I!" In a flash of light, the dark alicorn teleported out of the archives, leaving the faint smell of burnt paper in her wake. Luna, from underneath the pile of dusty ancient artifacts, could only do one thing in that moment as the mirror's glow slowly faded away.

"Achoo!"

The tall, dark alicorn arrived in a flash of light, directly above the sleeping town of Ponyville. Here, after all these years, she would finally exact revenge. Firstly, she would find that unicorn named Twilight Sparkle and burn her library to the ground! Yes, yes, that would be suitably evil enough for a start. Yet, as she swooped down, Nightmare Moon came to realize something off.

The town was not as she remembered it years before. Sure, it had grown in her absence, both in size and scope, but... there was a large blank space where the old oak tree library had been. Now, there stood only a plaque, with a small garden wall around the outside of it. Drifting down to the plaque, the alicorn slowly scanned the golden surface.

"Here stood the Golden Oaks Library until its destruction at the power of Lord Tirek before his ultimate defeat." She paused, not knowing who this Tirek was. But, judging from this sign, he had been evil and tried to take over or destroy Equestria or something in the years of her absence. So, that meant that the kingdom had likely forgotten about her in the two decades since she had last had physical form, or at least, were severely underprepared for her sudden return. Still, she had to act quickly, for it would not take Princess Luna long to free herself from that pile of artifacts and alert the guards.

Eyes scanning the slumbering town for signs of something important, she spied a ways off a large palatial structure, the likes of which she did not remember Ponyville possessing. It must have been built sometime after her second defeat, and the fact that it seemed rather important must have meant somepony important dwelled within its glittering halls.

"Good," she muttered, taking flight once more. "Then they are whom we shall speak with to catch ourselves up to date. If we are to truly make an impression on Ponyville during its destruction, then we will have to know which places will be the most memorable for their demise."

Setting down on a large veranda overlooking the majority of Ponyville, Nightmare Moon tried to open one of the doors, only to find it blocked off.

"From the inside?" She muttered, glancing through to see that, indeed, there were boards held in place over the inside of the door. Wondering if perhaps there was construction going on in this section, the mare simply removed them with her magic, tossing them aside with ease as she entered.

Immediately, the air around her seemed to feel heavier than it should have been, almost as if it were filled with a thick fog. Ignoring it as best she could, the tall mare looked around, wondering why the other doors were barred as well. "Come out, pony, whomever you are," she said, clearly and with enough volume that any could have heard her in this section of the castle. "Your queen of the night requests your presence."

Off in the distance, there was the sound of hoofsteps, though they sounded a tad off from what the alicorn would have normally expected. Perhaps this was the home of a local baron? She had certainly been gone long enough for such a pony to have risen in this corner of Equestria. Whomever lived in this castle was indeed an important pony, which made it all the more necessary that Nightmare Moon find who they were and extract as much information from them as she could.

The more she explored the castle, the more the alicorn came to realize that, indeed, somepony had barred the doors and a few of the larger windows with anything they could find, be they boards, cabinets or tables and chairs. All of the smaller windows were covered in tight sheets, as if trying to filter the very air that flowed in and out of them.

To her, it just didn't make any sense. Why go through with all this trouble?"

Up ahead, in what she assumed to be the master bedroom, she heard some shuffling once more. "Trying to hide, little pony?" she called, walking up to the door and stopping, her ears listening intently. "Are you afraid of your queen? You have no reason to fear us, we only wish to speak with you."

The scrambling stopped, and taking that as her cue, the alicorn entered the room quickly, making sure to rapidly shut the door behind her, to block any chance of an escape.

"Ha! Did you think we would be stopped so easily?" She jeered, glancing around the room, with the only light coming from several sets of candles scattered all over the place. "The door was not even locked."

"I know," a voice said, and turning towards the far corner, the alicorn felt her breath hitch in her throat. There, laying amidst a pile of blankets, lay a dragon unlike any she had ever seen. Scales of a deep purple, the color of the old Roaman emperors of ages past; this was the color of royalty, of those with prestige and power. The scales covered a body most splendid by most standards: lean yet carrying a bulk of not fat, but solid muscle, supported by legs that seemed to have been crafted into the shape of those of a predator. The leonine shape supported a long, gracefully curving tail and equally graceful neck, with rows upon rows of razor-sharp spines trailing along the apex of both. At the end of this neck lay a large head; the robust, set jaw, glimmering green eyes and the slight curve in the lips, as if there were something terribly funny that only the dragon knew the answer to.

Slowly, he rose to his feet, though from the way he handled himself, they were more like paws, so dextrously and silently he moved. "Who are you?" He asked simply, his baritone voice sending a chill down Nightmare Moon's spine.

"We... We are Nightmare Moon, queen of the night," she replied, watching him closely as the fog in the room seemed to thicken and make her feel slightly dizzy.

"Then why, may I ask, has such a wondrous creature come to my chambers at this hour?" He said, slowly prowling around her, the end of his tail flicking from side to side in an almost hypnotic pattern.

"We sought the owner of this castle," the alicorn replied, trying to keep her eyes on him at all times. He could be a predator, a dragon that feasted on the flesh of others, but those eyes, they belied a predatory nature of an entirely different sort. "We have been gone for some time, and we... we wished to be informed of changes since our... last departure."

"Oh, is that it?" He mumbled, sounding slightly amused at her stuttering. She could feel the heat rolling off of him, in wave upon wave that seemed to make the room all the more stuffy. "Well, I suppose I could tell you, but first you must answer a question of mine."

"Oh... okay," she replied meekly, entranced by the movement of his shoulders with every step, with the way he would swerve his head towards her whenever he spoke and away when he did not. It was as if he found her to be the least threatening thing in his presence, yet when he looked at her, she felt as though she was under the scrutiny of a hungry chimera. "What is... what is your question?"

"How long has it been since you had company, queen of the night?" The dragon asked, slowly sidling up next to her. The slow beating of his heart... she could feel it reverberate throughout her entire body. The warmth of his touch seeped into her very bones, relaxing her muscles along the way and giving her the distinct feeling of wishing to do nothing more than lay by his side.

"It... it has been some time," she said, shaking her head slightly. A swirl of emotions welled within her, clouding her thoughts. No, she was here for... for information, not to answer this... dragon's queries, no matter how intoxicating his aura was becoming. The air... it was becoming heavier, filled with smells she could not explain. "Many, many years have we never... met another in any fashion."

"I could tell," the dragon muttered, casually flicking the tip of his tail under her chin, tickling her throat slightly. "I could smell it on you," he added with a slight chuckle, the deep reverberations making the mare's mane stand slightly on end.

"You... you could?" Nightmare Moon asked, moaning slightly as he pulled his body away from her own. Her skin had felt like it was simmering from his touch, but now that he had pulled away, she felt cold, isolated, so very alone, as alone as she had ever been in her life. She suddenly craved his touch, craved the heat that rolled off of his smooth scales, craved the warmth that seeped into her body and filled her completely.

"Yes," he cooed, his eyes wandering over her. "The loneliness. You've been alone for a long time, haven't you, Miss Moon?"

"Yes, I... I have," she replied, shuddering as his gaze locked onto her own. He seemed to be staring directly into her soul with those great, piercing eyes... "I've been by myself for as long as I can remember."

"Well, that does not always need to be the case," he said, ending with a slight hiss as his forked tongue flickered from his muzzle. "For instance, the air... can you smell it?"

"Yes, there is something... different about it," the dark alicorn replied, wondering why her legs felt like jelly underneath her. "Why do we feel so... heated?"

He chuckled softly. "That would be my doing, I'm afraid," the dragon said with a whisper. "A side effect of it being a certain time of the year for my kind. It can calm the senses, instill a feeling of peace, while also making one feel more alive than ever before. Now, my dear, I leave you with a choice, a choice that only you can make: do you wish to leave?"

"W-What?" Nightmare Moon asked, too stunned to move as he approached her, his eyes looking down into hers. "Leave? Why would we wish to leave?"

"Yes, why?" He whispered, pressing his chest against her own, that warmth flooding into her body once more upon mere contact with his own. "Because I will not force you to do anything you do not already wish. The air here tends to clear your head, make you less reserved, more inclined to follow through on a set action, but not without your complete control, and only if it's something you already wished. So the final choice is up to you, queen of the night, as it always has been: will you stay with me, if only for tonight?"

"But we... we... we don't want to go," she whispered, her mind being filled by a feeling of belonging here; it was driving out all other thoughts and rationale. Her desire for vengeance, her plans of destruction, her will to see Ponyville ground to dust under her hooves... gone, replaced by this picturesque vision of a handsome dragon. He was warm, and exuded safety and comfort; she did not wish to go back to whatever she had been before, a miniscule portion of a mind that had all but forgotten about her. She did not want to go back to the dark, to the cold, to the... loneliness. "We... we don't want to leave you."

"So... you will stay?" The great dragon whispered, his eyes heavily lidded as he leaned closer, his lips dangerously close to her own...

The alicorn could barely breathe now, the heated wash of the dragon's own exhalation sweeping over her face. To another, it would have likely smelled terrible, but to her, right then and there, it was the sweetest scent that had ever graced her nose. Her entire body was on edge, filling with the heat that the dragon was just letting ooze from his masculine body. "We... yes," she said finally, all pretense dropping as she leaned in closer. "Yes, we will stay... with you. We... We want to; we need to."

"That's all I needed to hear," the dragon whispered, leaning in enough to capture the dark queen's lips with his own.

In an instant, the mare felt the last of her inhibitions fade away, along with all she'd been plotting, all she'd been planning, and all that she's held in her heart. The ache of being forgotten and banished, the rage at what she thought of as an injustice unfairly placed upon her, the deep-seated feeling of being alone for all those years, both on the moon and inside the deepest part of Princess Luna's soul...

That was why she returned the kiss, enjoying the sensation of his incredibly soft lips caressing her own. Perhaps that was why, when he drew away, she gave a soft moan of disapproval. "What is your name, mister dragon?" The alicorn asked as she rubbed her body up against his own. "We have told you our name, yet we do not know yours."

"Me?" He purred, rubbing his face against her soft, silky mane as it flowed lazily behind her. "My name is Spike."

"Spike," she repeated as he she kissed his neck, feeling the pulse quicken slightly from her soft touch. The scales along the underside of his neck and torso were of a lighter shade of green than his spines, but they were soft, far softer than those along the upper portion of his body. "What a handsome name for such a handsome dragon."

"Thank you," he whispered, gently rubbing his face along her sleek body. "I must say, Miss Moon, you have quite the figure for an alicorn."

"I could say the same for you, dragon," she replied, feeling herself salivate at the sight of his muscles as they contracted and extended with every stride. All that power, just waiting to be unleashed... and it was all hers for tonight.

She was going to make the most of it.

Rubbing gently against one another as Spike slid past the alicorn, Nightmare Moon turned slightly as his tail gently tickled the underside of her chin, releasing an entirely uncharacteristic giggle from the normally-stoic mare.

"You have such a beautiful voice, my dear," Spike whispered, his muscular thigh brushing against the outside of her own. Deep within her body, the alicorn felt her loins stir, all of this stimulation and the heated air bringing out feelings she had never before experienced. "So regal, so powerful, so charming and filled with grace; you should laugh more often."

"I have rarely had the chance to do so," she whispered, craning her head to peer underneath the pair of them. Down, swinging casually underneath his predatory body, Nightmare Moon spied...

Oh. "We were not expecting... that," she whispered, her eyes growing wide at the sight. It wasn't so much that it was large (which it was) or that there were no visible testicles attached to it, but... the shape fascinated her. A very pointed tip, far more than she would have expected, with a girth to rival any stallion and a length designed to probe the depths of a dragoness, which were very deep indeed. However, the ridges, the bumps, the large veins that were slowly pulsating outwards from the slot in the scales which it was erupting, the upwards curvature along the entire length...

To her, it was a thing of beauty, of utter masculine prowess; simply divine in her eyes, and the mere sight of it now, still hanging slightly limp underneath the prowling dragon, made her hips quiver with excitement.

"You weren't?" Spike said with a smile, his teeth poking slightly through his lips. He had that predatory look in his eyes, but those eyes wandered all over her body, from her gossamer-thin mane to her supple buttocks to her graceful legs...

"No," the alicorn whispered, shuddering as she felt his hot breath on her backside. To her, he looked as though he was going to devour her, in both mind and body. She... she could feel herself getting wetter, becoming puffy and swollen, and this itching, burning desire to be filled to the brim. "We have never seen something so majestic."

"I wouldn't quite call it majestic," the dragon muttered, slowly placing his face near her slightly dripping entrance. "Tell you what, my dear. I'll try and go easy on you, or at least, until you're begging me to do more."

"What do you— oh!" She cried, tensing suddenly as she felt his hot breath wash over her exposed core as the very tip of his wriggling tongue flicked her outermost folds. She felt her legs become weak as he continued to tease her, his tongue stroking her as if it had a mind of its own. More and more, deeper and deeper it went, swirling around, stroking here and there and seemingly everywhere in between...

She was panting: hard. Her mind was abuzz with these suddenly skyrocketing sensations, and deep in her belly, that warmth she'd been feeling before began to smolder and spark, growing in size and intensity slowly but surely. The alicorn could not even speak, only moan and whimper and occasionally squeak at the dragon gave her an extra large tongue bath. Considering said tongue was extremely long and very flexible, she could even feel it curl back in on itself and twirl around inside of her confined space. Every now and then she would feel his lips, those soft, burning-hot lips, make contact with her external lips, giving her the softest of kisses that seemed hotter than fire.

Nightmare Moon felt as if she were losing her mind. "Spike," she whispered, barely an octave about absolute silence as sweat began to dribble over her body, soaking into her pelt.

"Yes?" He replied with a throaty murmur, withdrawing his tongue in so torturous a manner that felt like she couldn't breath. "What is it?"

"Please, we... we need you," she whispered again, shaking her hips from side to side slightly as if to give her plea credence. "We need you so very, very badly."

"You need me?" Spike asked again, giving a small chuckle. At that, the mare would've normally been upset, but now, she became almost desperate. Was he toying with her? Driving her mad with his skillful tongue, only to leave her high and dry and frustrated beyond belief? "What is it you need me for, Miss Moon?"

"We need you... to make love to us," the alicorn replied, lifting her tail up and off to the side to exhibit her sopping wet core. "We... we cannot take it anymore. Please... rut us. _Rut us_!"

"Your wish is mine to obey, my queen of the night," the dragon said, stretching his legs up and over so that his belly slid onto her back. Almost immediately, she felt the great bulk of his body tortuously sliding over her back, his breath tickling her already hypersensitive wings as he tiptoed forward. She knew he could crush her underneath his mighty muscles, yet he moved as gingerly as if she were a tender flower about to be plucked. She felt safe underneath him, within his embrace, and as his head came to rest neatly alongside hers, they stared into one another's eyes and let their lips meet once again.

She could taste herself on him; his breath was awash in the scent of her own arousal, which served to only heighten her already-raging libido.

"Please," she moaned through the kiss, feeling his great length sliding up against her. Rock hard and throbbing, she could feel it pulse in time with his heartbeat, which now nearly matched hers in pace. "Please, Spike, we need this, we need this so much..."

"Then you shall have it," he whispered, pushing his hips forward as he lay a trail of kisses along the underside of her neck. Almost immediately, upon contact with the tip of his throbbing cock, the mare shuddered and whinnied in pleasure. The more he pressed into her, slowly but surely, the more she'd whinny and moan and pant heavily, all the way up until his hips met her own.

She could hardly conceive how far into her depths he was reaching, likely close enough that, with a vigorous thrust, the tip of his head would brush against the entrance to her womb. "Please, Spike," she moaned as she felt her body slowly stretch to accommodate his great girth. "Please... be gentle. We are not used to something so large probing our depths."

"For you, my lady, of course," Spike whispered back, and with a slow pulling motion, she felt his cock retreat about halfway out, before it slowly slid back in, the feeling of fullness almost overwhelming her once again. All of those bumps, each and every ridge, the curvature of the whole length itself; it was mesmerizing to just look at, but as it moved inside her, it was truly an experience unlike any other.

As he kissed her neck and face, she felt the fiery sting and burning pleasure coursing through each and every one, it was constricting her in all the right ways, making her feel as though she could barely breath, with what little precious oxygen she was intaking coming in amidst hasty, ragged gasps. The torturously slow pace that seemed to turn that simmering heat from before into a full blaze within her, the incredible power behind each little, tiny spasm and stroke, that entirely natural feeling of a portion of his weight gently settled upon her thighs...

It was heavenly. She had never experienced anything so divine, so deeply connected to her soul, that, deep inside of her, something broke free; broke free of the chains that had been holding it down, holding it back from being unleashed, revealed for all the world to see. It was an emotion she had never considered she'd ever feel, a long-buried part of herself that even Luna had not been privy to.

Love.

She was in the embrace of a creature that had not run in fear of her, despite her original intentions, but had instead found her fascinating, beautiful, and worthy of his own affections. Likewise, she too had found him to be most handsome, filled with grace, patience, and that gentle, understanding heart. She no longer needed power, or prestige, or any sort of revenge for past wrongs. These things mattered nought to her now, now that she'd experienced such a feeling so deep and true, it seemed to make all the other feelings fade away. What she had needed more than anything, something denied to her by all others, including Princess Luna herself, was finally hers.

She bit her lip as she felt the pace of his heartbeat quicken slightly, his patience (and hers) clearly having come to their limits. "We... we wish for you to go... faster," she moaned, squeezing her insides arounds his throbbing pole.

"Indeed?" The dragon replied, his pace staying the same. "Faster?"

"Yes." Why was he doing this to her?

"Harder?"

"Yes, please." She could hear the lust-fuelled desperation in her own voice, something she had never imagined would sound so depraved and titillating to her own ears.

"Stronger?"

"Yes, _oh yes_, please," she moaned, his roaming tongue gently tickling the backside of her ears, making her softly squeal in excitement.

Then, he astounded her; he was buried to the hilt inside of her, but had ceased to move at all. He growled slightly as he whispered, his hot breath making her mane drape down over her neck. "Beg for it."

"W-What?" Did he intend to drive her mad? Why did he stop?

"I said beg for it, my dear. I know you want this, so very much; I can hear it in your voice, feel it in your body. You want me to rut you, to plow you, to make you my own. Is that you want? For me to mark you as my mate, my lover, my special somepony?"

"YES!" She cried, shoving herself backwards against him in an effort to have him continue. Her insides had been aflame before, but now, they were positively searing with lust and desire, the need for him to let loose within her, to buck her senseless. His words were driving her crazy with want. "Please, _please_ Spike, make us your own! We _want_ this, we _need_ this; please!"

"Very well then," he said, slowly withdrawing his throbbing, pulsating cock from within her depths, her very core desperately clamping down on it, not wanting it to leave. "My lady, your wish—"

He thrusted: hard.

"—is my command."

"Ah!" She cried, her heart nearly pounding out of her chest as he began to move once more. Only this time, it was not the gentle, tender, sweet love making from before; now, it was rutting, bucking, a primal mating the likes of which only animals indulged in. There was nothing sweet or tender about it; he was plowing into her, making her submit to his will, to his body; he was marking her as his own, his mate, his lover, and partner. His aura was pervading every single one of her senses, driving her body wild and bringing about a state of bliss to which she could compare nothing. It was delightful, wild, and utterly maddening to feel this way.

And she loved it; the primal feeling of his cock churning her insides, the sounds of her gasps and his baritone grunts, the way her sweat-slicked pelt felt as his scales slid over her back. Her wings were taught with arousal, sweat dripped from everywhere as he mercilessly pounded into her, her mane hung limply down her sides; she was leaking from her sopping core, spilling liquid from what little space there was between his gargantuan cock and her clenched pussy.

"Yes, _yes_!" She cried as his hips moved rapidly behind her, his groin repeatedly slamming into her supple buttocks with thunderous claps. Like liquid lightning, his tongue snaked into her mouth, stealing away her grunts and groans for a forceful kiss that sent sparks from her horn. She could feel the pounding in his chest match the pounding of their loins, and as his pace continued to climb, so too did the building in her lower stomach. It was ascending as if born on the North Wind, rising higher and higher within her as their slick bodies continued to grind against one another. "Spike, we are... we are..."

"So am I," he replied, his breath ragged as he continuously pounded into her with all his might. Then, with one last push, he plunged in as far as he could go, and let loose a mighty roar as a torrent of seed spilled forth, inside this most gorgeous mare.

Nightmare Moon screamed in ecstasy as her own orgasm was triggered, her body rapidly and repeatedly convulsing around his cock, milking him for all he was worth. The great frothy liquid seeped out from around the edges of their union, spilling slightly onto the ground as her body produced loud squelching noises in an attempt to retrieve this most precious substance.

Her legs weak and her head heavy, the exhausted mare softly moaned as she felt the great cock slip from her folds, unleashing a small mixed stream of her juices and Spike's thick cum. Her body continuing to convulse every now and then, as if trying to draw it all as deep as it could inside of her, the mare flopped onto the ground in front of her, the pillows beneath them providing a soft landing for her aching body. In mere moments, her mind slipped away from her weakened grasp and she fell into a peaceful slumber, her breathing slowly returning to a deep, sedated pace.

The dragon remained standing for a few moments before he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. "Sleep well, my dear," Spike muttered as he lay down beside her, curling his tail and long neck protectively around the utterly-spent mare. "Everything's going to be all right."

At that, the snoozing mare's lips curved into a gentle smile.

* * *

><p>Early the next morning, just as softs rays of sunlight began to peek through the boarded-up windows of the castle, Twilight Sparkle descended upon it, her wings beating softly as she landed out on the large veranda. Breathing slowly, she peered through the faceplate of her mask, with a nozzle connected to the snout for filtering the air. Slowly, she motioned behind her, and another set of wingbeats sounded in the air, their owner landing softly next to the purple alicorn.<p>

"We must thank thee for freeing us from the containment of the artifacts in the archives, Twilight Sparkle," Princess Luna said, her voice somewhat muffled through the mask she wore as well. "Though we do wish to know a few things. Why must we wear this mask, and why would our other half come here, of all places?"

"The mask is for your own protection, princess," Twilight said. "Dragon pheromones are powerful things during their breeding season. That's why I stayed in Canterlot and had Spike seal himself in the castle for the past few days. The pheromones lose their overall potency the greater the distance they are from their source, or at least, they do so when other species are concerned, so it stood to reason that he and everypony else would be the safest if he were to stay alone in the castle. Now, a female dragon, she would have been able to smell these things from miles out, but thankfully there aren't any in the immediate vicinity, and—"

"Twilight, while we find this fascinating, that still leaves one question unanswered," Luna said as they walked into the building through a very obvious door. "How is it you knew Nightmare Moon, if ever free of her captivity, would come here, of all places?"

"Call it a hunch, your highness," the smaller alicorn replied. "Ponyville was the place where she made herself known to the world again, so it would stand to reason that, if she were free once more, then she would return here, only this time, to make good on her threats. Yet, seeing as it's been quite some time since she was last here, I could only imagine she'd try and find a pony who knew the area well enough to know what places, if destroyed, would make a more lasting impression on the local populace. Seeing as the castle is big and very important, logically she would come here first to find whomever was in charge."

"A very astute assumption, Miss Sparkle, and a very accurate one too, we might add," the princess of the night said as they passed through another set of doors. "Though we still do not know why nothing has happened since last night. Surely by now she would have sought to make good on her promise to destroy Ponyville, or maybe flee to parts unknown?"

"While that would be in line with what we would expect of her, your highness, I find it best that you should discover that answer, yourself."

"What do you—," Luna began as they walked through another set of doors, only to arrive upon a scene Luna never would have imagined. There, in the soft glow of the sunlight peeking through the windows, lay her dark half, Nightmare Moon, upon many soft pillows. However, she was not alone in her sleep, as alongside her, wrapped protectively around her slumbering figure, lay Spike the dragon, his face clearly resting against her own.

"What... how..." Her other half was simply laying there, with a smile on her face. A smile! To think, mere hours before, she had threatened to erase Ponyville from history, and yet her she was, snuggling with a dragon. It was inconceivable!

"I have a theory, your highness, but to tell you, we'd best be quiet, as to give them some privacy," Twilight whispered through her mask.

Nodding, the princess of the night took a few steps backwards, so that they could still see into the room from where they were standing, but their voices would not carry so far, and they themselves would not be seen so readily.

Twilight cleared her throat. "Your highness, please bear in mind that Spike is still young for a dragon, but has begun to enter the prime of his younger years, during which his reproductive cycle will be at its peak. Now, I know what you saw, and yes, I knew what I would find before we entered, so please, hear me out."

"We are listening, Twilight," Luna said.

"Dragons do not mate for life, contrary to popular belief. They mate with whomever they bond with for that season, even though many will often take that same partner for many years if the relationship is strong enough. Now, Spike is young by dragon standards, and has many, many years ahead of him; centuries, in fact. When in season, dragons lose many of their inhibitions for varying lengths of time, like shyness, inability to keep a clear head, uncertainty and doubt, and such. Perhaps that is why he connected so strongly with Nightmare Moon, as you saw in there; nothing was holding him back from expressing his true self, the dragon he has always wanted to be but was too afraid to try and become."

"Connected?" Luna had very well know that Spike was indeed a very handsome dragon, but during many of the times she visited him and Twilight, he'd often fumble over his words or be very quiet in her presence. She already knew that stallions were often dumbstruck by the prospect of talking with a pretty mare, especially younger ones, so it made sense to her now that Spike, being a young dragon, would feel the same, only for a much longer period than ponies, who got through such a phase in a much shorter span of time.

"Yes. Love to a dragon is not a foreign concept, but whereas a pony can love things in many different ways, dragons can in very few. They can love possessions or others; simple as that. The greedier the dragon, the more they love possessions and forsake all else; the more generous a dragon, the more they love others, and are in turn loved themselves. It is in this that the word of a dragon's prowess in breeding is established, as they can love any and all other equally, without favorites or preferred partners. Spike has been shown love his entire life around us ponies, so naturally, I think, he too would give himself fully to whomever he mates with, regardless if it was one female or many."

"So... he gave himself to Nightmare Moon?"

"Not exactly, your highness. I have a theory; they gave in to one another. Princess, during your exile on the moon as Nightmare Moon, you were lonely, were you not?"

"Yes, we were." How could she forget a thousand years of exile upon the moon, all because she could not accept that ponies needed sleep? It would be like forgetting the day she and Celestia had defeated Discord with the Elements of Harmony; something that had such an impact on her life would not be so easily cast aside.

"Well, as Nightmare Moon was always a part of you, imagine how much lonelier that side of you became when you were freed from her influence. She was banished from the world, imprisoned back deep inside yourself, never being acknowledged, never becoming more than a mere memory to you, and a memory we both know you'd rather forget. So imagine the loneliness of that, being forgotten not only by the rest of the world, but by your own self."

"So, when the mirror called her forth and gave her a physical being... she kept our memories? Our feelings?"

"To an extent, princess. I believe she remembered what you did when you were Nightmare Moon, as she is Nightmare Moon. So, what you did after your return, she does not see as her own doing, but as your own. The two of you are now completely separate entities, two different ponies who share a common past. Now, her loneliness would cause her, perhaps indirectly, to seek out another to be with, and as it just so happened, that coincided with her seeking out another to find out about Ponyville. Perhaps this may be taking my assumptions a bit too far, but I think that maybe, just maybe, all of her problems, all of her anger, stems from being alone. You thought the same all those years ago, when ponies would sleep during your rule and your sister was often far too busy to spend any time with you. That loneliness was carried within and eventually transformed into something else, but ultimately, it was still that loneliness that created Nightmare Moon, and that same loneliness that she carried with her into this castle."

"And now?" Luna asked.

"Now? Now, I don't think she's alone anymore," Twilight said with a soft, knowing smile. "I think she's finally found what she was looking for all these years; somepony, or in this case, some_dragon_, to call her own, to be there for her. I believe we will not have to worry about her causing any more trouble, your highness."

Luna nodded, smiling as she did so. "You are a very smart pony, young one," she said, glancing back into the room at the two sleeping forms before looking back to her sister's protege. "We shall let them be, and I will inform our sister of what has transpired here."

"Thank you, princess," the purple alicorn replied, her own gaze drifting towards Spike and Nightmare Moon. "They've both been alone for far longer than I dare imagine, but now, after so long, they've finally found what they most desired: the warm embrace of another."


End file.
